By: Bob Nuse
Right now, Mary Peters has the chain.
But with the makeup of this year’s Princeton Day School girls’ lacrosse team, it could belong to just about anyone on any particular day.
"The chain is representative of our team," said Peters, a junior defender for the Panthers who hails from Cranbury. "And we have a saying that the team is only as strong as it’s weakest link. So after each game we vote and someone gets the chain to hold onto until after the next game.
"It’s keeps us together and really helps us play as a team."
There were plenty of players who could have earned the chain on Wednesday, as PDS improved to 2-0 with a 15-4 win over Princeton. The defense limited the Little Tigers to just 13 shots, while the offense saw seven different players score, led by Katie Briody with five goals and Keeley Langdon with three.
With the win, PDS is off to a 2-0 start for the first time in at least a decade. The Panthers opened the season on Monday with a 14-5 win over Pennington, before coming back to beat Princeton.
"We’re really psyched about the way that we have started the season," said Peters, who had a pair of goals in Wednesday’s win. "We went down to Florida over break and that went real well. It gave us a chance to play together and we have just looked better and better.
"Everybody on our team is playing better than last year. We had a pretty young team last year and we lost some good seniors, but everyone has a little more experience this year and is playing better."
Princeton already knew it had a scorer in Kerwin, who accounted for 41 goals last year. And with three key starters back on defense, this figured to be a much improved team.
"We have three returning players on defense and we all played together last year," Peters said. "We have a senior (Kristina Costa) and two juniors (Peters and Jessica Cellars), so we’re experienced. So we should be good on defense this year and next year.
"We’ve been working on doubling in the midfield a lot and that has helped us. And we have a good offense that can score goals for us."
Those add up to the ingredients that make a winning team.
"There have been two things that have been big for us," said PDS coach Jill Thomas, whose team is back in action today at home against West Windsor-Plainsboro North. "One is that we have more balanced scoring. Today, Meg had three goals and four assists. She was able to distribute the ball. We had scoring from a lot of different people.
"The other thing is that Maddy (Ferguson) came up big again today in goal. She had 12 saves in our last scrimmage. She had 14 in our game the other day. And then she had nine more saves today. She has been just super in goal and she is just a sophomore.
"She’s athletic and she’s got an experienced defense in front of her with Kristina at low defense and Jess Cellars and Mary Peters right down the middle. Kristen Modzelewski is on the outside and she’s the fastest player we have. And we have a freshman, Hannah Epstein, on the other wing."
So, the Panthers are rightfully excited by their 2-0 start. Princeton, meanwhile, will look to regroup after a second straight loss. The Little Tigers opened the season with a 13-12 win over Willingboro, then dropped a 20-10 decision to Peddie on Monday.
"They just outplayed us," said Princeton coach Joyce Jones, whose team was scheduled to face Stuart on Thursday and will host WW-P South on Monday. "We talked after the game about intensity and coming to the game with more intensity. They beat us to the ground balls today and that was an important part of the game."

